SMS Campaigns – When and Why Should You Do?

SMS is short for Short Message Service, which is commonly called texting. Although SMS is primarily used for texting, it is also being increasingly used as a marketing platform. SMS is an owned channel that is similar to email marketing.

What is an SMS Campaign?

An SMS campaign is simply a text message sent to a large number of people. It usually contains information about a company or a product and its services. This method is effective as the firm running the campaign has complete control over who receives the message.

Besides SMS messages, you can send Multimedia Message Service (MMS) messages to your customers. MMS allows you to send related images, GIFs, and videos and is thereby capable of creating a more significant impact than regular text messages.

Types of SMS used in Advertisements:

When you use SMS as a marketing campaign, your messages will come under two categories. These are:

1. Promotional text message: These SMS messages are texts that you can circulate among your audience to increase your company’s sales. These messages usually create brand awareness or promote a service or a product.These messages can be used to introduce or launch a new product, offers, sales, etc. Apart from promoting products and their sales, these messages can also share company announcements and create a buzz around branded events.
2. Transactional text messages: Transactional SMS messages are quite different from promotional text messages. These messages do not promote anything but provide information including confirmation details of orders and shipping information for a product.When a customer buys something, texting them about the delivery update is an efficient technique to inform them about the history of their expenditure, savings, etc. It also builds customer loyalty and confidence in the future.These messages are simple and do not contain any promotional information. OTP is an example of a transactional text message. Such messages also need to be delivered on priority. Hence, a robust platform that guarantees higher delivery percentages is required.

Reasons for Opting for an SMS Campaign

SMS advertising might sound simple, but it is pretty effective as a marketing campaign. It builds customer trust and brand reputation.

Some of the advantages of SMS campaigns are:

•       Unbelievable Open Rates

SMS campaigns can achieve great engagement numbers. It has 98% open rates and, surprisingly, a 45% response rate. If your SMS content is good, the text messages have the ability to outperform email in both the cases of click rates and conversion rates.

•       Drive Customers to Take Action

SMS messages have a unique ability to create a feeling of time sensitivity. In other words, it makes people think that they have limited time to grasp this offer. This perspective makes them respond rapidly, and this urgency is so strong that most of the people end up reacting to it. It’s a great way to increase your customers.

•       Easy and instant

Drafting an SMS doesn’t require much of a format. Text marketing is different from email marketing that includes designing with HTML. It is instantaneous because almost 95% of the text messages are seen within 3 minutes after dispatch.

•       Multifunctional

SMS marketing or campaigns have a vast field of opportunities for companies. SMS can promote a service, launch a new product, and inform about sales, offers, and delivery updates. It is not just fast but versatile as well.

•       Works with other marketing channels

It might surprise you, but SMS marketing can improve email marketing. You can easily text people about their unopened email, and this, in turn, will improve email marketing.

•         Creates a more personal relationship with customers

Texting is used as a way to connect with people you love and care about. It is more intimate than email as people check their mails only for business or job purposes, while they regularly check text messages.

It has been noticed that people respond to text messages better than they do to emails. It does not only create brand awareness but also build a relationship with your customers.

They get all the information they need via text messages, and responding through text messages is much easier. When customers get an easy and approachable method to contact you, ultimately they start trusting your brand.

When Should an Organisation opt for an SMS Campaign?

Text messages are a great way to market your service regardless of what type of business you own. Certain businesses that should opt for SMS campaigns to increase their sales are:

• E-commerce stores

If you are selling anything online, may it be a product or a service, promoting it online is important. If you have just started your business, SMS campaigns can give a kick-start to your e-commerce business, as they offer an easy and cost-effective marketing solution.

SMS campaigns do not require too many funds and text messages are easy to draft. You can use them to promote your products as well as to provide delivery updates to your customers.

• Travel companies

SMS marketing is essential for travel companies as customers need real-time updates and information. Information like flight time, gate alerts, schedule, cancellation, etc. can be sent through text messages. It can be useful for a customer to get all the information they need, right on their mobile phones.

• Businesses that require appointments

SMS can also be used for reminder services. You can remind your employees or clients via text messages. Text messages appear as a notification and are very noticeable; hence they are a great way to remind people about a meeting or other information. This will save your company a lot of time and money as well. Text messages are an easy and cheap method of communication.

• Large Organisations

It is extremely difficult to pass information in a large organisation as you can’t just reach out to every employee and give them the information. Text messages can be used as a way of communication. It can send information to a wide range of recipients and that too in a short period.

SMS campaigns can be really helpful for any organisation or company if you choose the right communication partner that will help you connect well with your customers. It will help in both the marketing and management area as it’s a cost-effective and instant method of sharing information with many people.